The Politics of Air Pollution: Urban Growth, Ecological Modernization, and Symbolic Inclusion

by George A. Gonzalez

Overview

Who has been at the political forefront of clean air policy development in the United States? In The Politics of Air Pollution, George A. Gonzalez argues that the answer is neither the federal government, nor environmental groups, but rather locally oriented economic elites in conjunction with state and local governments. These local growth coalitions, composed of mostly large landholders, land developers, and the owners of regional media and utility firms, support clean air policies insofar as they contribute to the creation of a positive investment climate and, in turn, bring about greater profits through increased land values and an expanded local consumer base.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791483862
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	02/01/2012
Series:	SUNY series in Global Environmental Policy
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	152
File size:	267 KB

About the Author

George A. Gonzalez is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. He is the coeditor (with Sheldon Kamieniecki and Robert O. Vos) of Flashpoints in Environmental Policymaking: Controversies in Achieving Sustainability, also published by SUNY Press, and the author of Corporate Power and the Environment: The Political Economy of U.S. Environmental Policy.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1. Local Growth Coalitions, Environmental Groups, and Air Pollution

2. Political Economy and the Policymaking Process

3. The Politics of Air Pollution During the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries: The Failure of Technology

4. Real Estate and the Rise of the Automobile

5. The Establishment of Automobile Emission Standards

6. Democratic Ethics, Environmental Groups, and Symbolic Inclusion

Conclusion: Political Power and Global Warming

Notes

Bibliography

Index